>> welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters and these are the stories we're following for u a disappointing jobs report will have reaction from the white house. targeting much worse than expected. 70 million customers are affected. declaring nine counties in virginia disaster areas. stunning news from the labor department today. the economy adding a disappointing 74,000 jobs last month. that is well below forecast. the unemployment rate may be the

only bright spot. it had felt 6.7%. but the number of people looking for work, the labor participation rate, now heading in the wrong direction, that down to 62%. mike in the white house, and time and time again, job priority number one, and this has to be a blow. >> i think it is. but if you look at it, you're right. you read the top numbers, and dell, it looks like good news. lowest rates when it began, the financial collapse, down 6.7%. and the white house, as they do every month is going to look at the positive part of this. they say 46 consecutive months of private sector growth. that string unbroken, but the rate is down for all of the wrong reasons, del. essentially, people are leaving the workforce, and it's artificially driving down the right. 347,000 individuals simply stopped looking for work.

the labor participation rate, they call it. the lowest since the carter administration in 1978. it's 63%. and one figure that economists always look at, it's called real unemployment figure, people out of a job, and people who are underemployed and working part-time. that's 13.1%, and that's static, it hasn't changed. it has stayed the same. white house noting some of these numbers, and trying to spin it too much. it's a bad number as far as the participation rate. but they're trying to turn it around to put some of this on congress. immediate goal and passed the unemployment extension benefits to help some of these folks that are out of work. here's jason ferman of the advisers, and what he had to say. it's far from solved. the congress allowed the extended unemployment insurance

to lapse in 2013, cutting off a critical lifeline for those who are out of work for no fault of their own, and the insurance helps the economy boost by injecting money into local economies. >> mike at the white house. thank you very much. college grads having an especially tough time. looking for jobs is intense, and many of them are in positions that they thought they could avoid. we have the story of one lady's struggles. >> when polly graduated from with honors, she was optimistic about her job prospects. >> my expectations were strong and i graduated the top of my class. >> she has yet to land a position in her chosen field. instead, she's underemployed,

juggling two part-time jobs. >> i've been working if a restaurant. >> mcdonald is hardly unique. in 2001, 34% of college graduates were underemployed. by 2012, that number had vaulted to 44%. newly minted grads have to compete in a tight labor market, saturated with unemployed, experienced workers. >> there's more than ever before, and it makes it hard on young people, each those with a college degree because they have less experience and skill than those who have been in the labor norris for along tame. >> transitioning from the ivory tower to labor force has always been tough for college graduates, but finding a good job has never been harder for them. college graduates, working part-time from 12 to 15% in 2000 to 23 force in 2011. despite the challenges,

mcdonald feels like her education a good investment. >> i know that something has to break eventually. >> aljazeera, new york. >> and we will dig much deep noor the jobs report and what it means to the economy with ali velshi tonight at 7:00 eastern time. right here on aljazeera america. >> it turns out that target's data breech was worse than thought. 70 million customers were affected. that's 30 million more than the number first released. target's holiday sales were disappointing, and the sales will be worse than expected in this quarter and the sales were weaker after the data breach was disclosed. in west virginia, officials are saying not to drink or cook with the water. 93,000 people are affected by it

in nine counties. coal leaked from a factory on the charleston. we have more on how they are responding to the state of emergency. >> >> reporter: shelves are empty inside of this west virginia grocery store. customers snatching bottles of water, and when that runs out, ice. >> now it's chaos. >> you're just grabbing everything. >> it's about gone. >> water is scare following a warning from west virginia's governor. do not bathe or cook or wash clothes using tap water. affecting people in nine counties, at a coal processing plant in charleston. on thursday, a chemical, crude chm, used to separate coal particles, leaked from an old storage tank and went seeping into the river. they have a treatment plant nearby, and it's that company's customers who are affected.

>> we sought the advice of a lot of water quality professionals and we were fairly confident earlier today that our water treatment plant could handle any issues that we had, but it's clear that that has migrated to our finished water. >> officials are not sure what the health risks are, but so far, no reports of illness much the company is also not clear how much of the chemicals spilled into the river. many are questioning why officials waited eight hours after the spill to issue the water alert. >> people are angry. because this happened so early, and then why are we being told not to use our water? >> the water wasn't impacted in the day. we started to respond. >> fema or the federal emergency management agency to bring in the water, and they are making the best out of a bad situation.

>> that's what you're going to do in the old days, and you take like a birdbath. >> at least we can make coffee in the morning. >> back at the plant, workers are flushing the system and doing additional testing, but they can't say how long the advisory will last. >> there's also another story that could be playing out in west virginia. a story of when and why. earlier this morning, i spoke with brent mcentire. he maintains that he learned about the problem long after the leak, and there was a question about what chemicals were released. >> we just became aware of the leak just before noon. it had gone on before that, i don't know how long before it started. we didn't see -- the material was identified to us as a floculant. and then later as a foaming agent. and you mentioned earlier in the report the specific name of that product.

our treatment process can handle that, but in the quantity we got in, our finished water started to be affected by 4:00 in the afternoon. we worked with the bureau of public health and agencies and the governor's office in trying to determine the correct curious of action. >> correct me if i'm wrong, but there seem to be two things that be went wrong, and you didn't find out when it happened. and the other thing, it seems that you were misled about what leaked. >> i wouldn't say misled. these events are interesting, and you're trying to identify the product. it was originally identified as a flock you atlanta and we turn on what's known as powder activated carbon, and these are the treatment processes for this type of event. and unfortunately, this chemical is so strong in naacp, it overacted the carbon to the point that it mig rated into the

finished water. >> in a news conference, they don't know how much of it is in the water. but as it continues, the ban on using water is in place. >> after being indicted by a grand jury on thursday, they're turning over documents. >> the india government's latest call for the american embassy to remove one of its diplomatic staff that new delhi as identified as being involved in the cases and the subsequent unilateral action by the united states, suggests that this case may have gotten more complicated. despite the fact that the indian person is on the way home,

between the two nations last month. in india, the fact that the diplomat is coming home, it's viewed as somewhat of a victory that india's stance has prevailed. but it's interesting, on the other hand, they have take a strong view, and on the other, we hope that this incident does not permanently damage relations between new delhi and washington. and we have to keep in mind that there are politically motivated actions taking place in india. they are about to go to a national election, these are particularly sensitive types, and politicians want to take the lead and defend india on the national stage. officials in afghanistan say that u.s. officials accidentally shot and killed a four-year-old boy. in the province, the marines opened fire on a group of suspects and mistakenly killed the boy. it comes at a tough time with

u.s.-afghan relations. president karzai is signing a security deal to keep forces in the country after a withdrawal of most of the forces this year. >> . >> police using teargas on protestors rallying. and they are supporters of deposed president, mohamed morsy. they are voting on the referendum. they have until sunday to do so. egyptians have different ideas on what they need. >> they are friends for two decades. they meet here at a restaurant to catch up with politics. they have very different feelings about the future of their country. >> .

>> the way it used to be was much better. you have to go. >> morsy is not going to go. he's going to come back in. we didn't give him a chance. >> mohamed morsy, egypt's first president ousted. >> even if he came back for one day. i would have no problem, but he has to come back, because that's our vote. i'm 55 years old. and i never vote if any elections. >> mohammed supports the army chief, who ousted morsy. this new constitution is backed by the military, who says that the referendum is the first step toward the election next year. most egyptians drove hours for

the vote here, and the egyptian consulate expects record numbers. >> the number of people increased by 30% in the last election. >> i take a day off from work, i came from new jersey to new york to vote for the new referendum for the egyptian confusion because it's -- constitution because it's good for the people. >> the muslim brotherhood was declared a terrorist group. and many of them have been killed in the month-long crackdown. but here, many voters say they support the military. >> we come today to vote for the constitution, the new one. and he's going to be my president. >> i've been here 33 years, the first time i feel egyptian because of assisi. >> thousands are registered to vote around the world. this is the second referendum in

two years. whether it will lead the country out of turmoil is still up for debate, even among friend. aljazeera, new york. >> also in egypt, prosecutors now saying that our three aljazeera colleagues will be held for another 15 days. producers, mohammed and peter have been detained for 13 days outside of cairo. they're accused of spreading lies harmful to state security and being involved in the muslim brotherhood. aljazeera maintains that the allegations are false and we continue to demand their release. >> . >> hundreds of people in the south african republic are celebrating today. they are cheering the resignations of the president and his prime minister. it comes after two days of talks in neighboring chad. the president swept into power last year, but critics are accusing him of not doing enough

to stop the sectarian violence in the country that left thousands of people dead. parts of louisiana destroyed by hurricane katrina, and people want to know why all of that relief aid is sitting, much of it unspent. and one man telling his story of being out of work and looking for a job as we continue our coverage of the war on poverty.

>> it is hard to forget these images, it has been nearly nine years since hurricane katrina devastated parts of louisiana, damaging homes and causing massive floods. but money set aside in some cases hasn't been spent. robert is in new orleans, and how much money are we talking about? >> hey, good morning, del. $1.5 billion is the money we're talking about. that's about 10% of the original 14 and a half billion dollars that was given to this part ever the world by congress.

this august and september marks the 9th anniversary of hurricane katrina and rita, and you see i'm standing in this house in the lower 9th ward. it's in total shambles as is much of this part of the city. a lot of the people here are wondering where the heck this money is, and why it hasn't helped their neighborhoods and their businesses. basically, the $1.5 billion is called a flexible block grant. essentially, what that's supposed to go toward is infrastructure repairs. schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and the local communities, the parishes around here, and the local government officials are supposed to spend that money properly. now, they're sitting on a lot of it. and people are starting to wonder where the heck it is. i'm going to walk outside and i want you to see a little bit of the lower 9th ward. so this house, which was flooded over, and so many in this area, and if you look over here, a lot

of slabs of homes that used to be, nature has taken over this part of new orleans. and certainly, those funds could probably help out. earlier, we talked to a local non-profit group, a guy named arthur johnson, who runs the lower development and here's what he thinks. >> we're still recovering, and people are still trying to get into their homes, their small businesses, who still are not operating where they once were prior to hurricane katrina. and the other types of disasters that have come in where this money is still available to do. so this would make a big difference if our community for economic development, for residential neighborhoods and growth, and our infrom a infras, schools, fire stations and libraries. >> so del, $890 million is earmarked for hurricane katrina

and rita damage. 600 for gustav and ike. not a lot of the money is used. $640 million is sitting on the pot from gustav and ike, and it's supposed to go to schools, and it hasn't gone to anything. we reached out to the governor's office via email and phone, no response, and we would love one, and we reached out to the disaster recovery specialist from the governor's office, and we would love to hear his take on t so as we stand here in the rubble of the lower 9th ward, a lot of people are asking, where is this $1.5 billion going to go to, and when is it going to happen? local officials are calling on congress to take a look at congress possibly taking this money back and making an executive decision on where it goes, but that would be a bit of a hurdle, considering that the block grant is supposed to be

handled by local officials. >> robert joining us, and a lot of questions, and hope knee one day we'll get the answers. >> the jobs report. wall street is down. and tiffany's blue box was popular in the holiday season. the second largest retailer of jewelry reporting an increase in sales from november to december, they said it's all on asia. and ramping up next week. ali velshi is going to be reporting from there on monday and tuesday. it airs at 7 p.m. here on aljazeera. >> 50 years ago this week, president linden johnson declared a war on poverty, and

president obama has promise zones, areas that a lot of people are unemployed. and one of the residents, david brown. >> there's no jobs to be had. there's no industry in this part of the country. when they took the coal mines out, that affected everybody. grocery stores, people weren't making no money. it affected everybody. >> one way or another, i don't know whose fault it is, but people like us, there's nothing.

you got laid off from the mines, my brother-in-law, i don't know what he's going to do. if you're a young person, there's no future here. you don't need to stay here. move off and that's what i'm afraid is going to happen around here. what jobs are here is minimum wage. there's nothing here. like i said, a young person has got no business staying here. years ago, in oklahoma, everybody packed up and left. and that's about what it's going to be here. i believe it when i see it. you have the promise in one hand and i don't know if the jobs

will ever be back. you know, they just got to eat and work. there's no industry here. providing basic jobs, it looks bleak to me. i don't know. they're making a promise they're going to do this. but i don't see it myself.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters, and here are your headlines. the jobs picture may not be as rosie as once thought. only 74,000 new jobs, created in december, well below what experts were anticipating. a dangerous chemical spill prompt being a water emergency in west virginia. advising people there to not bathe or cook with the water. a chemical used to process coal leaked from a factory at the

state's capital. and 3,000 people are affected in the state. a woman who lied about underpaying her maid is headed back to india. she was i dike indicted by a gry but was allowed to return home. >> i'm meteorologist, da meteod there's sleet and snow with a coating of snow on the ground. and freezing rain is a problem. that's when it comes down and hits the ground. and it could get that coating of ice. this in affect until 1:00 because the temperatures are climbing. this is part of a large storm system that will impact the area here. you can see the mix coming down from philadelphia and it's all snow. and eventually it warms. still a light mix here possible towards the lehigh valley.

but the temperatures continue to climb from dc all the way up to new york and new england. right now, still above freezing in new york, and albany and not much in the way of presip there. the large storm over the great lakes, pulling it up over the east coast. there's heavy rain with this, but not until saturday morning and late afternoon. you can see the rain coming down by 3:00, 4:00. and still heavy rain. the temperatures well above freezing, and the line pushing well into canada. this will all be rain, and some of that will be heavy at times. 1-2 inches of rain by saturday. by sunday, it clears out. there's the cold air coming back and leading to lake affect snows. there could be flooding here with 1-2 inches of rain, it's all heavy rain thought the day on saturday and tapering off to sunday. >> thank you very much. and thank you for watching aljazeera america. i'm del walters in new york, and

"inside story" is next. check us out on aljazeera.com. black, white and latino men are arrested by the time they're 23, how does that shape their lives, and how does that affect a country where crime has been dropping steadily for decades. that's inside story. >> hello, i'm ray soares. a group of scholars are getting taken. they show that half